Chair



Dec. 31, 1957 H. v. THADEN CHAIR Filed May 19, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

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CHAIR Filed May 19, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR mm wm ATTORNEY UnitedStates Patent CHAIR Herbert V. Thaden, Roanoke, Va., assignor, by mesneassignments, to Thaden Molding Corporation, High Point, N. C., acorporation of North Carolina Application May 19, 1953, Serial No.355,919

2 Claims. (Cl. 155-193 This invention relates to a chair adapted to bemade by a molding process.

An object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive but strong anddurable chair construction. A more particular object of my invention isto provide a molded chair construction having all of the essential partsthereof, i. e. the back, seat, arms and legs unitary. A further objectof my invention is to provide reinforcing or strengthening ribs at thepoint or points where the greatest strength is required.

A further object of my invention is to' provide an integral flangearound the edges of the back, arms and seat to facilitate the attachmentof upholstery.

A further object of my invention is to provide a seat liner which may beupholstered separately and then attached to the seat, arms and back insuch a way as to reinforce and strengthen the structure.

The molding material or composition and the manner in which it is moldedare well known and form no part of my present invention. It may be said,however, that any suitable synthetic resin such as the polyester, polyethylene or phenol resins may be employed. The resin may 'beself-hardening or hardenable by heating or may be of either thethermoplastic or the thermosetting type. The resin preferably is usedwith a filling or strengthening material such as fiber or fabric eitherpromiscuously dispersed in the resin or arranged in layers therein. Aconvenient method of forming the chair is by laying a plurality oflayers of fabric, e. g. four layers of burlap impregnated with theresin, over a form where they are united and hardened or permitted toharden and then removed from the form.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of the chair without the seat liner;

Fig. 2 is a section through the chair in the plane of one front and onerear leg;

Fig. 3 is a section through the seat only of the chair with the seatliner in place, the section being in a planev midway between the legsand perpendicular to the hack;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the seat liner;

Fig. 5 is a rear perspective view of the chair showing a modified backconstruction;

Fig. 6 is a front perspective view of the chair showing a secondmodified back construction; and

Figs. 7 and 8 are a front view and a section respectively of a modifiedconnection between the legs and the body of the chair.

Referring to Figs. 1-4, 1 is the back, 2, 2 are the arms, 3 the seat, 4,4 the front legs and 5, 5 the rear legs. The back may be of any suitableshape but it is to be noted that the molding method of forming the backis well adapted to the production of a shape which is most comfortableto the occupant of the chair and which is also of ornamental appearanceor design without waste of material. To illustrate this aspect of theinvention, I have back and at the front edges into the seat.

shown a chair back having a curved upper edge and wings which join thewide arms at the rear. Flexibility is provided in the back where theshoulders of the occupant rest by cutting the parallel slits 6.

As may be seen more particularly in Fig. 2, the edge of the back isturned over at 7 to form an almost closed tubular flange, a narrow space8 being left between the edge of the flange and the back which may servefor attachment of upholstering fabric. The upholstering fabric may beattached by providing it with an edging preferably in the form of a headwith some elasticity which may be stretched over the flange 7 andinserted into or through the space 8.

Also, as appears more particularly in Fig. 2, the rear legs are hollowand merge at their rear edges into the The shape of the boundary linesbetween the rear legs with the back and the seat is shown at 9, 9 inFig. 1. In the same way, the front legs 4 are hollow and flared at theirupper ends and merge into the seat, the boundary lines being shown at10, 10 in Fig. 1.

The front edge of the seat is provided with the flange 11, similar tothe flange 7 around the edge of the back described above. The arms 2, 2curve upwardly and outwardly from the seat and have flanges 18, 18 attheir outer edges. The flange 7 around the back and the flanges 18, 18around the outer edges of the arms and the flange 11 along the frontedge of the seat join each other and thus form a continuous flange, thedifferent portions of this flange curving int-o each other without sharpangles.

The seat 3 is provided with the downwardly extending ridge 12 (Fig. 3)adjacent its front edge and extending across between the front legs 4,4. This ridge serves to strengthen the seat at the front where theheaviest weight is applied by the occupant and where sagging or breakagemight otherwise occur.

The surface irregularities in the seat due to the openings 9, 9 and 10,10 where the legs are attached and the. ridge 12 are covered by the seatliner 13 which is formed by molding in the same way as the chair body.The seat liner 13 has a bottom wall 14, the side walls 15, 15 and therear wall 16 which are all integral and preferably joined by curvedportions thereby avoiding sharp angles. The front edge of the bottomwall 14 extends forwardly and curves downwardly forming the lip 17 whichis adapted to snugly fit over the flange 11.

The seat liner 13 may simply rest on the seat 3 as shown in Figs. 2 and3 and remain removable therefrom or it may be attached by means ofadhesive.

As has been noted, in the structure illustrated in Figs. 1-4 the back 1curves into the seat at its lower edge and into the arms at its sidesand the seat curves into the arms and even the legs curve into the backand seat so that the entire structure is free of sharp corners or angleswhere cracking or breakage would be likely to occur. This roundedstructure contributes not only to the strength and durability of thestructure but also, together with the integral continuous flange 7, 11,18, 18 around the edges of the back, arms and seat, greatly facilitatesupholstering the chair, the flange serving for the attachment of theupholstery fabric.

The seat liner may be upholstered separately and then inserted. Ifsecured into the chair structure by means of adhesive, e. g. by means ofthe same synthetic resin as that used to form the body, it serves tostiffen and strengthen the resulting composite structure. As isapparent, the seat liner may be adhesively attached along its front edge17 to the flange 11, at its rear wall 16 to the back 1, at its sidewalls 15, 15 to the arms 2 and at its bottom wall 14 to the seat 3.

Referring to Fig. 5, in the modified back construction illustrated, theback 21 has a portion 22, of any desired shape and size, which insteadof being rendered flexible by slitting as in the construction of Fig. 1is made flexible by the application of a suitable resin plasticizer tothe lay-up just prior to closing the die and heat hardening the molding.Thus while the remainder of the molding 'will be hard and relativelyrigid, the part 22, due to the presence of the plasticizer, will remainflexible and will tend to conform to the shape of the shoulders of theoccupant.

Referring to Fig. 6, in the modification illustrated, the back insteadof being slitted as in Fig. 1 or plasticized as in Fig. 5 is providedwith the opening 32, and the surrounding structure may be thickened ifdesired to provide adequate strength and provided with eyelets 33through which a rope or tape 34 may be laced to provide a flexible backrest.

In Figs. 7 and 8, I have shown a fragment of the seat 3 and a connectedfragment of a front leg 4 for the purpose of illustrating a modifiedshape of the connection between the leg and seat. The leg 4' and theseat 3 are of course integral as in the structure illustrated in Fig. l,but instead of the leg curving into the seat as in Fig. 1, the leg isprovided with the bead 35 adjacent its connection to the seat to give itthe appearance of a separately made and attached leg similar to theappearance of a chair as customarily made of wood.

I claim:

1. A chair structure comprising a molded integral body having a back, aseat, arms and hollow legs, the connecting portions thereof being curvedand merging into each other with a continuity of strength, an integralstrengthening ridge in the seat in the form of a corrugation extendingdownwardly therein between the front legs to form a groove in the uppersurface of the seat; and a seat liner secured to said body to cover thegroove and the openings from the seat into the hollow legs.

2. A chair structure comprising a molded integral body having a back, aseat, arms and hollow legs, the connecting portions thereof being curvedand merging into each other with a continuity of strength; and a seatliner secured to said body to cover the openings from the seat into saidhollow legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSSavoral Nov. 17, 1874 190,872 Knowlton May 15, 1877 1,856,315 Butzen May3, 1932 2,238,730 Hautfe Apr. 15, 1941 2,483,223 Moss Sept. 27, 19492,541,835 Saarinen Feb. 13, 1951 2,663,276 Lorenz et al. July 15, 19522,642,118 Lamb June 16, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 359,091 Great Britain Oct.22, 1931

